S&P downgrade fails to dent SAP's India mood

Global IT major SAP has announced its Q1 results. SAP co-chief executive Bill Mcdermott explains to CNBC-TV18 that the company's outlook for India was upbeat thanks to the demand for cloud computing and big data tools.

Mcdermott is ciritical of the government's initiatives and adds that SAP's tools could improve the government's efficiency and effectiveness. Below is an edited transcript of the interview in CNBC-TV18, Also watch the accompanying video. Q: How the revenue growth in India been in percentage terms on a year-on-year basis?
A: India has been such a great market for us for so long and in Q1, we grew more than 60% on a year-over-year basis in India. Our focus on big data and initiatives to harness the cloud market has favoured SAP in India. So, thanks to all our customers and partners in India. Q: Can you take me through the kind of deals that you hope to crack for the quarter and for the year, in India? Can you throw some light on what kind of government contracts you target and any update on SAP’s interest in Unique Identity Authority of India?
A: Rather than getting into specific deals, I can tell you that the government needs to be more efficient, needs to align its operations and do more for providing services to citizens.
There is an increased trend in mobility and with so many devices in India, you have to manage them securely and store data. Governments have a huge amount of information.
SAP's mobile solutions and HANA tools are handy with the notion of in-memory computing taking India by storm. Governments as well as businesses want to put all their data in HANA because it runs a 100,000 times faster than anything else in the world. Q: The last two quarters have been trying for your Indian IT clients like TCS and Infosys. What is your view of the IT sector in terms of budgets and spending?
A: It's looking very good because companies and governments invest in innovation. Innovation gives efficiency and enables savings at the bottomline and effectiveness to increase revenues at the topline.
There might be trouble in the commodity business, but not in the value business where you can drive business outcome and change the results. That's why SAP is growing so quickly in India because our Indian clients know a great investment when they see one. Q: S&P has downgraded India as a whole. But you have been fairly bullish about India in the last one or two years. Any kind of relook at investments in India?
A: We will keep investing in India. In India we are developing beautiful software and great engineering. The customer base is loyal to us and we are helping India run better.
If you look at our long-term horizon on India, it remains ever bullish and you can count on us to be the business software brand that stocks with India. So, our investments will increase along with our focus on government, customers and on being a great corporate citizen in India.